Update April 25, 2019: We got a little surprise from Jemma… ends up she’s pregnant! She must have been bred just shortly before being found and brought to the shelter. It’s amazing she didn’t miscarry considering how much she has been through!

Jemma, taken April 16, 2019.

She was finally recovered enough from her previous surgery to get spayed, but it looks like that is not going to happen for some time now.

Update April 2, 2019. Jemma is recovering nicely after her tooth extraction and tail amputation. She is much happier now that she is no longer in pain. She even lets you touch her tail nub now. (And yes, the hair will grow back! We get asked that alot.)

Jemma sporting her new bob tail, taken April 2, 2019.

Because a tooth extraction releases a lot of bacteria, and thus puts her at a higher risk of infection, she cannot be safely spayed for a few more weeks.

Jemma being the ham she is, taken April 2, 2019.

We also discovered she is not, in fact, declawed. She had one toe with the fur scraped off from her accident. The toe clearly had no claw. Gave her paw a quick squeeze, and no claws came out. Nor did she ever extend any claws when being held. Ends up, the visible toe just had the claw ripped out, likely from her accident, and she is one of those cats that just doesn’t extend her claws much. We were surprised when suddenly a claw appeared one day! Rechecked her other toes, and a little effort, sure enough we were able to get her to poke her claws out a bit.

Jemma’s claw growing back in, taken April 2, 2019.

Jemma is so sweet and has such a silly personality! And she looks so much nicer now that her hip bones are no longer jutting out. She was scary thin when she was found!

If Jemma looks a little grumpy in this picture, it’s because I took it shortly after she returned back from the vet today, where she had both a tooth extraction and a tail amputation. We had a development over the last few days. What looked like nerve damage developed into the end of her tail dying, which was causing a bad infection in the living part of her tail. She is now a bobtail, with about 3″ of tail left. A bad day at the vet will result in a much more happy and pain free future for her.

Jemma after her tail amputation and tooth extraction. Taken March 29, 2019.

Thanks again to everyone who donated towards her surgery! It’s that kind of generosity that helps us to continue to help injured cats like Jemma, whose cost of care will far exceed the reimbursement from the adoption fee.

Jemma on arrival, sporting some road rash, likely from a close encounter with a car. She is also underweight; you can see her hip bones jutting out. 🙁 Updated photo coming soon! Taken March 16, 2019.

Meet Jemma, the super lovey kitty who just wants to be pampered.

Jemma was originally found wounded on the side of the road, appearing to have either been clipped by a car or fallen from a moving vehicle. She had a few abrasions, some nerve damage to her tail, and was generally sore all over. She also arrived underweight. Jemma went to the vet, where it was determined that she has no broken bones, and that a lot of the pain she has is probably just a combination of bruising and her tail “waking up” from some nerve damage. (Think of how it feels when your foot falls asleep, and then wakes up all tingly and unhappy.) It appears the nerve damage is mild and not permanent, and that she will make a full recovery. She has also been putting her weight back on pretty quickly, showing that it was only a lack of groceries that had made her thin. While she is not quite ready to go home yet, we are taking applications for her at this time.

No one stepped forward to claim her, so now she is looking for a new home to call her own. Jemma will be spayed as a part of her adoption fee. She has been updated on her vaccines, tested negative for feline leukemia, been dewormed, treated with a topical flea/ear mite preventative (Revolution), had a negative fecal float (checks for internal parasites), and had a medicated sulfur/lime bath.

We believe her to be around 3-5 years old.

If you are interested in adopting, please call the shelter at 507-644-3853, or else stop in and meet her, no appointment necessary, during open hours: M-F 2-6 and Sat 10-Noon. Even if you aren’t looking to adopt, we love for volunteers to stop in and play with and socialize the critters; it does them so much good!